their testimony and against the Prophets and people of God that stood to maintain the same have and shall certainly come to passe If they prophesie of famine either of the Word and knowledge of God which is the bread of life or of common bread signified here by shutting the heavens that it rain not c. Or if they prophesie of destruction by the sword here signified by turning waters into blood so giving them blood to drink for their shedding the blood of the Saints as it is exprest Rev. 16.3 4.5 6. Or if they prophesie of pestilence of earthquakes or any other calamity or judgement to come signified by smiting the earth with all manner of plagues so often as they will their word is a law such speciall priviledge and power they have that what they say and denounce shall stand not one jot nor tittle of their word shall fail till all be fulfilled According as the Lord spake of his Prophet Jeremiah and by him saying Behold this day have I set thee over Nations and over Kingdomes to pluck up root out destroy and throw down build and plane Jâ—r 1.9 10. And in another place Therefore have I cut them down by my Prophets and slain them by the words of my mouth Hos 6.5 And so Zerubbabel concerning the power that opposed him saying Not by Army nor by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts Who art thou O great mountain before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain c. Zech. 4. Now what two men were there ever in the world or what two States of Magistrates and Ministers or other have there ever been that had power to doe all these things and by the word of whole mouth all those judgements of God already past and fulfilled on those former Monarchs Kingdomes Nations Cities people that have been the great adversaries of God enemies to his Word of Truth and destroyers of his Saints have been uttered and pronounced but the mouth of his two Testaments onely which the holy Prophets and Apostles have been the witnessers and recorders of In which respect the Lord did so greatly honour Moses and the Prophets they being dead and their writings onely remaining to the people saying They have Moses and the Prophets let them heare them c. And so to us now we have Moses and the Prophets yea more we have John the Baptist the Elias that was to come and Christ the Messiah promised and his holy Apostles insomuch as wee have their Records and Writings of the great things of Gods two Testaments which they had seen and heard from the Lord. And if we therefore will not heare them nor beleeve their record then neither will we beleeve if Enoch and Elias or Noah and Abraham or any other two or more of the holy Prophets and Apostles should come from the dead and preach anew unto us for so much doe the words of the Lord imply Wherefore it concerneth us greatly to read and consider and to desire of God to give us understanding And blessed is hee that readeth and beleeveth and keepeth the sayings of Gods two Witnesses which are his two Testaments for so I will now take it for granted of all that love the Lord and delight in his Testimonies Vers 7. And when they have finished their testimony the beast which ascendeth from the depth shall make battell against them and kill them THese words in the opinion of some I know will seeme to contradict that which hath been said of the two Witnesses because they will understand their testimony here spoken of to be their prophecying in Sackcloth 1260 dayes mentioned in verse 3. and so as if the words of this 7 verse did imply the killing of them by the Beast to be at the end of those dayes a little before his own death that he shall then get up again out of his consumption and make warre against them and kill them and their carkasses lie in the streets of his great Citie three naturall yeares and a halfe unburied that so the Beast and his false Prophets and those Kings and Nations and the people that worship the Beast may yet rejoyce and triumph over them before the Beast die and his Church come to desolation This they conceive and teach and that the two Witnesses must therefore be some two men of these times as Mr. Burton and the other that suffered with him and were imprisoned as they say three yeares and a halfe just to a day and then set at liberty by the Parliament and so raised from death to life and caused to stand upon their feet again for so they have published in their bookes yet not giving the honour wholly to them alone but joyning also together with them all those Ministers which had suffered and been supprest by the Bishops for not conforming unto their orders and rules who are now restored to places and meanes Some adding to these the zealous Magistrates and States now in place of authority But to answer these Teachers not denying any of Gods faithfull Servants Magistrates or Ministers the least part of their due and right onely let me tell them that so teach They are utterly deceived in their imaginations concerning the two Witnesses and also much mistake the words of the text For first it saith not of the two Witnesses which are the two Testaments onely as hath been sufficiently proved and I now take it for granted And when they have finished their prophecying in Sackcloth as if they should cease so to doe before the Beâ—st should kill them Neither doth it say when the 1260 dayes of the Beasts reigne shall be accomplished then the Beast should make warre against them and kill them Nay this were very contradictions and unreasonable for how could the Beast kill them when his dayes were ended Or if he could what would it then avail him the time of their prophecying also being expired Nay it had been much more for his advantage to have killed them long before seeing they were before even in the Prophet Zechary his time though they had not yet finished their testimony till about three hundred yeares before the beast rose And 2ly the two Witnesses of God being the two Testaments cannot bee said to finish their prophecying in Sackcloth till all Gods elect are called and sanctified by their word and that the sufferings of Christ in them his members for his Word sake are ended Neither did the two Witnesses ever otherwise prophesie then in Sackcloth that is in mourning All the holy Prophets Apostles and Sâ—ints have in mourning and weeping born record of them and in faith and patience testified the truth of their words to the world and were hated and persecuted for their sake not their own but because they testified and walked in the light of them And in this kind of habit they are to prophesie untill the Lord come in his glory For although the Lord would as he said so give unto his
the Tribe of Dan and by him who is to be borne they know not where nor when and yet must reigne those three years and a halfe and doe all these things Neither can any of those among our selves which are so neere of opinion unto them of Rome concerning the three dayes and a halfe of the two Witnesses being slain shew any one sound reason why a propheticall yeare may not be intended in this place by the name of a day as well as by the name of a time in Dan. 7.25 and 12.7 and Rev. 12.14 which I suppose they acknowledge And seeing also that a day is a time as well and truly as an houre is a time or a month or a yeare Vnder all which termes the time of the reigne of the great Antichrist is exprest 1 Ioh. 2.18 Rev. 3.10 9.13 14 c. Where John having seen their great and terrible Army of horsmen and heard also the number of them to bee twenty thousand times ten thousand describeth them also to have breast-plates of fire and of Jacinth and of brimstone and their horses to have heads as the heads of Lions and that out of their mouthes issued fire and smoke and brimstone and having tailes like Serpents with heads on them And that all these whose power is in their mouthes and in their tailes were prepared for an houre and a day and a month and a yeare to slay the third part of men verse 15 16 17 18. This is that last houre spoken of in 1 John 2.18 The houre of temptation which was to come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth Rev. 3.10 So then if an houre may contain so long a time why not a day if a day then why not three dayes and a half as well as three times and a halfe seeing three dayes and a halfe are three times and a halfe Neither is it possible that all those things which are to be done within the time of the two Witnesses lying dead and unburied in the streets of that great Citie should bee fulfilled and done in so short a time as three naturall yeares and a halfe That the Beast and his false prophets that great Army of inchanting horsemen with all those Kings Princes and Tribes and people and Gentiles and inhabitants of the earth which worship the Beast and his Image should so universally so publickly in all places make those merriments with bonfires festivals wakes c. rejoycing over their own inventions and for that they had put out the light of the truth of Gods two Witnesses which so troubled them in their ways and send such great gifts also one to another for joy thereof chopping and changing making Merchandize of all things even of the very souls of men as it is declared Rev. 18.12 13. and as experience hath sufficiently proved they have done no short time slaying and destroying with their inchantments and sorceries the fire and smoke and brimstone which issued out of the mouthes of those monstrous horsemen and their horses and the mouthes of their tailes the souls of many thousand men of all degrees high and low and of all nations even a full third part of the world and yet the rest that were not slain by these plagues repented not of their workes that they should not worship Divels and Idols of gold and silver and brasse and stone and wood which neither can see nor heare nor walke nor repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their fornications nor of their thesis I say it is not possible that all these things which are to be done while the two Witnesses lie slain in the streets should be accomplished in three common yeares and a halfe but must have the full time of the Beasts reigne for the sam the time of those Gentiles treading the holy Citie under foot and of the woman being fed in the wildernesse even 1260. yeares After which as the text saith the Spirit of life from God shall enter into his two Prophets and they shall stand upon their feet c. God will then in and about that time especially raise up faithfull Scribes indeed and Shepheards of understanding hearts whom he will teach and instruct in the wayes of his truth and give them so to understand the words and testimonies of his two Witnesses as that they shall through the power of his grace declare the true intent and meaning of them and set forth and divide the same unto the people Like unto the good housholder or as the Scribe taught in the Kingdome of God that is alwayes provided of things both new and old and is ready to minister upon all occasions in and at all due times and seasons according to the words of Christ and as Paul once charged Timothy that they also may understand it and walk in the light thereof to the praise of God and their own salvation And so the true spirituall and heavenly meaning of Gods two Testaments their light and life which their enemies had taken away and kept out of fight and knowledge so long being now restored they his two Prophets walk upon their feet againe as well to the terror and astonishment of all false and lying interpreters as to the reverend feare admiration and comfort of all the children and justifiers of wisdome for so much do the words imply And great feare fell upon all that saw them And if any man shall marvell how the two Witnesses may bee said to prophesie all the time of the reigne of the Beast and their bodies lie dead in the streets of his Sodomiticall Citie all the while let him consider that although they lie dead in his streets yet they speake and prophesie notwithstanding like as did the blood of Abel and the bones of Elisha And whatsoever they have spoken or prophesied in the written words of their Testimony either against the Beast and his Church and all other false accusers and beliers of them or as concerning their owne restauration and the good of the Church and children of God shall surely come to passe and be fulfilled let the Beast and all the rest of them doe what they can Neither doe nor did their bodies lie dead and unburied among the Saints and children of the woman that fled into the wildernesse they have been living and prophesying with them all this while and their enemies have heard their voyce from thence many and sundry times sounding in their eares though they hardened their hearts against it and sought still by their cunning inquisitions to lay hold of shut up in their dungeons and slay all those that testified the same Ver. 12. And I heard a lowd voyce from Heaven saying Come up hither and they went up to heaven in a cloud and their enemies saw them NOw the true meaning of the Scriptures contained in the two Testaments of God which had been so long obscured by false and lying expositers shall be so
THE TWO OLIVE TREES OR The Lords two Anointed ones which alwayes stand before Him the Ruler of the whole Earth Zach. 4. Described also Rev. 11. by the names Of Two Witnesses Two Olive Trees Two Candlesticks Two Prophets And shewing What they are in their owne true nature differing from all the new fancied ones and in what manner they alwayes prophesie How they are said to finish their testimony How they were to be killed by the Beast and when How long their corps should lie in the streets of the Beasts great Citie dead and unburied And when the Spirit of life from God should enter into them and they stand upon their feet again And what great things should follow after the same to the end and thence for ever Published according to Order LONDON Printed by Matthew Simmons 1645. To the Christian Reader ALthough there are many opinions at this day on foot concerning the two Witnesses of God described in Zach. 4. by the names of two Olive Trees and the two anointed ones which stand before the Ruler of the earth as also by the names of two Candlestickes and two Prophets Rev. 11. and much questionings and doubts made about them who and what they should be c. And that therefore I may seem too bold especially among men so learned and wise and in so great and difficult a cause as this is to speak or publish what I have heard or may seem to understand yet seeing things to be as they are I suppose I may with leave venture to doe it I confesse the matter hath already long before this time very truly been unfolded by some whose shooes I am not worthy to beare if we could see it but that wee are so naturally blind concerning the truth and given to seek out new inventions of our own and such as may seeme best to suit with the present times and affections of the people and withall serve to make for our temporall advantages which we are to repent of as being very great evils That which I shall doe herein is onely this to expresse some things a little more plainly to the plainer sort of Christians like my selfe to remove some objections and cleare some doubts After which I hope it will not remain to the meek humble in heart a matter altogether so obscure and unknowne what the two Olive Trees the Lords two Witnesses his anointed ones are in their own true nature differing from all the new invented ones which some would have us to entertain for them or besides them I request the Christian Reader therefore to excuse my boldnesse herein seeing it is his good that I seek as well as my owne desiring that we may all escape the errors and evils of the times and be led by the Spirit of truth into all truth and so Walke in the same to the praise of God and our owne salvation which is now neere at hand to be revealed So I rest His Christan friend I. E. Imprimatur Iohn Downam THE TWO OLIVE TREES OR The Lords two anointed Ones Zach. 4. Described also Rev. 11. by the names Of Two Witnesses Two Olive Trees Two Candlesticks Two Prophets REV. 11. vers 1. And there was given me a Reed like unto a Rod and the Angel that stood by me said Rise and measure the Temple of God and the Altar and them that worship therein BEfore the Lord begins to describe his two Witnesses 〈◊〉 requireth his servant Iohn to take a survey of his Church of Saints the spirituall house of God consisting of living stones built on the chiefe Corner Stone Jesus Christ they being the holy Priesthood who offer up spirituall Sacrifices acceptable to God by him which hee signifieth by the Temple of Jerusalem and the Altar of Incense that was in the same whereinto the Priests onely might enter through the vaile to sacrifice and adore These onely are they that the Lord will have to bee measured and taken notice of as being his part and portion his Tabernacle wherein he will dwell Vers 2. But the Court which is without the Temple cast out and measure not for it is given to the Gentiles and the holy Citie shall they tread under foot fourty and two months BY the outer Court of the Temple which John is bidden to cast out and not measure wee are to understand the common outward unregenerate Christians who especially after the dispersion of the true Spouse of Christ from her primitive viblsie estate should become many in number and attaine to great authority and power in the outward state of the Church and take upon them and assume unto themselves as if they were the very true Church and Spouse of Christ These who notwithstanding all this their outward profession and taking much upon them are but Gentiles in heart full of all uncleannesse and abominations resembled here by the outward Court of the Temple where the Brazen Altar was and whereinto all the people of Israel might enter and sacrifice are they whom the Lord commandeth to be cast out and forbiddeth to be measured or accounted of as being any part of his portion or inheritance And whereas these Gentiles are said to tread the holy Citie under foot fourty and two months is foreshewed that they should persecute kill and keep downe out of sight the true Spouse and her children who are here described by the name of the holy Citie because they are the Tabernacle and Sanctuary of God wherein hee will dwell for ever And that this they were to doe for the space of fourty and two months which are to be understood months of yeares taking every day of each month for a yeare according to Ezek. 4.6 Vers 3. And I will give to my two witnesses and they stall prophesie a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes clothed in sackcloth BY which words the Lord by his Angel gives to his servant Iohn and unto all his Church of Saints to understand that although those Gentiles unto whom the outward Court was to bee given should tread the holy City of Saints under foot so long as fourty and two months of yeares yet neverthelesse hee would so give unto his two Witnesses that they should prophesie all the while even every one of the dayes of those months which according to the account of the Hebrewes who had thirty dayes to every month and twelve months to every yeare do contain according as the Lord doth here also intend it a thousand two hundred and threescore years And sheweth also that their manner of prophesying should be as cloathed in Sack-cloth that is to say in mourning for so in the same kinde of habit they always prophesied although it would be now much more abundant by reason of the abundant cruelties of their enemies who should for their word and testimony sake persecute those that in the evidence of the Spirit and the teares of true repentance faith and patience testified the same against their Gentilisme hypocrisie and
her beforehand that then especially when the time of trouble which he also foretold her of should come shee should betake herselfe unto them as he also saith When yee therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet stand in the holy place who so readeth let him understand then let them which be in Iudea flic into the mountains c. Matth. 24. For this was the very time of the great persecution raised by the Dragon against that admirable woman in her most excellent primitive estate described in Rev. 12.1 whereby she was necessitated to flie into the Wildernesse to her place which God had provided for her to take some breath and live She was now to read and understand the written words of his two Testaments and to betake her selfe to them and flie they being the two wings of the great Eagle even the Lord himselfe who gave them unto her to that end and that she might be also nourished by them in that secret desart for a time and times and half a time that is to say three yeares and a halfe of yeares from the presence of the Serpent as verse 14. compared with verse 6. where these three times and a halfe are decribed by 1260 dayes and are to be understood for so many yeares it being also the full time of the reigne of the Beast which was to rise after the Dragons fall For St. Iohn as it seemeth wrote this book of the Revelation at the same time when all the Westerne Churches were by the persecution of Nero and the rest of those cruell Pagan Emperours dispersed and they of Iudea also Iohn himselfe being now for the word of God and witnesse of Iesus Christ in the Isle of Pathmos onely the seven Churches of Asia remaining in their places undispersed and that this was the reason why Iohn speaks not a word of any Churchelse of any place besides those seven of Asia unto whom he was appointed to send the book when he had written it And although notwithstanding that great persecution against all Christians in generall then under the Romane power the name of Christ and profession of Christian Religion increased so that in short time it came to be very generally entertained yet did the true Church herselfe being in respect of her Seed dispersed amongst them never recover her first and primitive estate againe but all things grew worse and worse untill the Beast rose who brought the mystery of iniquity to perfection and set up the abomination of desolation to the full which the Dragon had begun in Ierusalem and Temple thereof to stand where it ought not even in the Temple of the Christian Gentiles the seven Churches of Asia being now also by the Easterne Empire subdued to the Beast and brought under the supremacie and power of his Church of Rome and so they wrought and brought to passe by degrees that the eminent light and beauty of the truly modest and chast virgin Spouse of Christ might no more be seen till the fourty and two months of the Beasts reigne should be expired Therefore as Christ said Matth. 24. Who so readeth let him understand c. So again Rev. 1. Blessed is he that readeth and they that heare the words of the prophesie of this booke and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand verse 3. Verse 5. And if any man will hurt them fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies and if any man will hurt them so must he be slaine HEre the Lord doth further declare by his Angell what his two Witnesses are in their owne true nature and power in saying If any man will hurt them fire shall proceed out of their mouth c. That is to say if any man shall resist their words and testimony or seem to stop their proceeding and pervert the straight way of the Lord which they declare as the Scribes and Pharisees and those false teachers in Antioch and them of Galatia Elymas the Sorcerer and many other more in the Apostles dayes did or shall wrest their words from their true intention to some other false and evill ends and so turn their prophesie and testimony out of the way to maintaine their blasphemous opinions abominations and lies under pretence of truth as Arius and his followers did and the Beast and his Clergie have done a long time and as many others doe now amongst us at this day to maintain their sundry erroneous and corrupt opinions which they have taken up contrary to the intent and meaning of the Spirit of God in these his two Testaments Look what judgements they have pronounced against such shall surely first or last fall upon them the fire of Gods justice and wrath which proceedeth out of their mouth shall certainly devoure them And let no man marvell at this that they being two are described to have both but one mouth for although they bee two in number and are truly distinct and differing one from the other the one being the Law of sinne and of death so called by reason of us who are all guilty of the breach thereof and so of death which is said to come by Moses the other being the Law of the Spirit of life of grace and truth and is said to come by Jesus Christ yet doe they not speak or will things contrary one to the other but doe truly agree and speake as with one mouth that which is holy and just gracious and true Therefore if any man will hurt them so must he be slain If any man shall make and love to make lies against them or of them and say they speak that which they speak not or mean that which they mean not If any man shall adde to or take from the words of their prophesie see then what their sentence is even in the very finishing of their testimony If he shall adde God shall then adde unto him the plagues that are written in this booke If he shall diminish or take from God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy Citie and from the things that are written in this book Rev. 22.18 19. Blessed therefore are they that doe his commandements that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the Citie for without shall be Dogges and Sorcerers and Whoremongers and Murderers and Idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie Verse 6. These have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the dayes of their prophesie and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to smite the earth with all manner of plagues so often as they will THat these two Witnesses have power for to doe all these things I suppose no man will deny because it is without question true And that whatsoever they have prophesied against any Kingdome Monarch Nation State Citie People for their wickednesse against
ruling in their hearts is judged already So those dwellers on earth being tormented with their just and righteous sayings which the Saints and servants of God the true successors of the holy Apostles and Church of their time maintained against their ungodly superstitious filthy flesh-pleasing wayes And the beast hee being now risen up and seated in the Dragons Throne and there being nothing more tormenting or grievous unto him and his false prophets and those dwellers on earth then the true and righteous doctrines and prophecies of these two Prophets Gods anointed ones the light whereof being so contrary to their wayes and works Therfore as holding it their wisest surest way that they should torment them no longer they make battell against them and kill them And this they effected and brought to passe partly by belying their testimony giving most false and blasphemous expositions of their sayings making the world beleeve that so they meant and partly by suppressing those which stood to maintain their true intent and meaning and partly by keeping close their written words forbidding them to bee published or read in any of the tongues or languages of the Nations which were under the authority and power of the beast that the people should not come to the knowledge and understanding of them lest they should see and discover their false and deceitfull delusions So the beast and his false prophets by putting out the light and true intent of Gods two Witnesses which was and is their life they killed them Vers 8. And their carkasses shall remaine in the streets of the great Citie which is spiritually called Sodome and Egypt where also their Lord was crucified ONely their dead letter or bare text of their testimony they would retaine and keep as wee see they have done in their Cells Temples and streets of the Nations and Kingdomes where the beast is worshipped who with Rome their chiefe doe make up that great Citie which because of their spirituall whoredomes and hardnesse of heart are described by the names of Sodom and Egypt they answering in a spirituall manner unto them both And they are charged also with the crucifying of the Lord himselfe even as the Lord had charged the Scribes and Pharisees of his time with the blood of Abel because like as they imitated Cain in hardnesse of heart and wickednesse in their killing the Prophets as he did his brother So these imitating those of Jerusalem that crucified the Lord of life in their murdering his faithful Servants his Saints Martyrs are justly charged with crucifying the Lord they making up one generation with all the Heathen and wicked murderers and shedders of righteous blood in the world For which cause he saith And in her was found the blood of Prophets and of Saints and of all that were slaine upon the earth Rev. 18.24 Ver. 9. And there shall of the Tribes and People and Gentiles see their dead bodies three dayes and a halfe and shall not suffer their Corps to be laid in Monuments ANd so those Nations and Kingdomes People and Gentiles under the name of Catholick Christians having the dead bodies or letter of Gods two Witnesses lying in their streets could and can yet handle and look upon them while those three dayes and a halfe the time times and halfe a time of the beasts reigne lasteth That is to say not as the beast and they of the Church of Rome expound it three naturall yeares and a halfe which they will have to be the time of the reigne of a great Antichrist of their imagining which they pretend is yet to come but 3 propheticall years a halfe that is so many years of years which according to the account of the Hebrews are 1260 years A long time for Gods two Testaments to lie dead among them and not suffered to be so read or heard as they maybe understood and laid up in the hearts of the people where they ought to have been laid and kept as in their true and naturall graves or tombs where they should have been buried not to be forgotten but to be kept in memoriall to the praise of God and salvation of his people Ver. 10. And the inhabitants of the earth shall bee glad over them and shall send gifts one to another because these two Prophets tormented them that dwell upon the earth NOw the beast his false prophets and all those worshippers of the beast here named because of their great number The Inhabitants of the earth they having attained their wills and prevailed over Gods two Witnesses and cast his truth to the ground as the Prophet Daniel also foretold are glad at their hearts and in triumph over them and for joy that they may now goe on quietly in setting up and adoring their own inventions They as one well observeth make themselves merry with bonfires vigils festivals processions and in token of their joy as the text saith send gifts one to another Kings Princes and people present and endow the beast and his Church with donations immunities possessions gold and silver offerings c. And the beast on the other side requites their love and devotion with Titles Bells Prayers Pardons Bulls and such like And the reason of this their wicked and ungodly rejoycing is because they had put out the eyes or light of Gods two Testaments which are here named two Prophets and before his two Witnesses and two Olive Trees and two Candlesticks vers 3 4. that their abominations filthinesses of their fornications might not be discovered and reproved by them as formerly had been which was so tormenting unto them and is and will be still to all such lovers and beleevers of lies whose hope and conversation and dwelling is here on earth as nothing can be more For so much doe the words imply in saying Because these two Prophets tormented them that dwell upon the earth Ver. 11. And after three dayes and a halfe the Spirit of life from God entred into them and they stood upon their feet and great feare fell upon all that saw them ANd after three dayes and a halfe that is to say after the time and times and halfe a time of the Beasts reigne spoken of in Dan. 7.25 12.7 and mentioned in Rev. 12.14 to be the time of the woman being nourished in the wildernesse And so taking a day in this place as a time is to bee taken in Dan. 7.25 Rev. 12.14 Then these three dayes and a halfe in a propheticall understanding are as the three times and a halfe are three yeares and a halfe of yeares And therefore not as they of Rome would have them three naturall yeares and a halfe which they make to bee the time of their expected two witnesses Enoch and Elias and their being killed and lying dead c. and of their Churches desolation and being in the wildernesse which they pretend they expect shall come to passe upon the rising of their Antichrist a Jew of
famously published and made known and by such plain demonstration of the Spirit and power of God as that no power of wickednesse whatsoever shall any longer bee able to stop or hinder the glorious course and prosperous proceeding therof but that as one well observeth from the words And I heard a lowd voyce from heaven saying Come up hither it should be more possible for them to stay Elias Chariot from ascending or to pull the wind back from pursuing his poynt then to resist the power and wisdome of the same which shall vindicate the abuse of the Scriptures and by the same Spirit and power of God in the ministery of his faithfull servants as in the strength of cloud shall hold them up and restore them to their spirituall and heavenly meaning again And so as the beast with his false Prophets Sorcerers and liers which have been their long and ancient enemies shall see the glory of their restauration and wonder thereat and die for so much doe the words imply in saying And they went up to heaven in a cloud and their enemies saw them Ver. 13. And in that houre there was made a great earthquake and the tenth part of the Citie fell and there were slain in the earthquake names of men seven thousand and the rest were east into a feare and gave glory to the God of heaven ANd in the same houre saith the Spirit of God there was made a great earthquake As much as to say In the same very time when it should please God to begin his work of raising up and restoring his two Witnesses to life and strength again as before is declared there should be made a great disturbance in the Christian world where the Beast should reigne concerning matters of religion And that a tenth part of the Citie that is of the same Christian world or State where the Beast is worshipped should fall from the Beast And that in this great earthquake and disturbance and fall of the tenth part of the Citie there should bee slain many thousand men signified here by names of men seven thousand for standing up to maintain the true doctrine of Gods two Testaments against the Beast and his abominations and lies and because they would not worship him nor his image any longer And that the rest meaning those that were in their consciences reproved and in their minds enlightned by the evident light of the truth so witnessed were cast into a feare c. that is into a reverend feare and admiration and gave glory to the God of heaven praised his name and used all meanes both by word and deed to establish and support the same doctrine of truth that it might bee yet more publickly knowne to the world The words implying that among these rest so enlightned which gave glory to the God of heaven some were Princes and Rulers of the people and Nations who had civill power also to promote this great worke and made use thereof accordingly And the houre or time in the which this great earthquake should be made and worke of reformation begin was as it must needs be understood and acknowledged that very time when those great troubles broyles and bloodsheddings were in Bohemia Germany France Flanders others parts as also in England for and concerning the institution of religion whereof histories doe so clearly report Whereupon as we have seen and doe see by experience sundry Kingdomes and States of Christendome a tenth part at least that were under the power and subjection of the Beast have fallen from him and forsaken his abominations and have set their helping hands to the building of the walls of Jerusalem and to restore the morning and evening Sacrifice of praise and thankesgiving to God in some part and measure answerable to that which was once in the former time and in the dayes of old And so it is true a tenth part of the Citie fell and is fallen For we are to understand that although the resurrection of the two Witnesses or restitution of the true meaning of the Scriptures is not yet perfected nor so known and understood in every part and published as God will have it to be in this last age of the world nor the woman his true Church come fully forth of the the Wildernesse nor shall till after the three dayes and a halfe of the beasts reigne mentioned in verse 11. yet the beginning of both was to be before and their light and brightnesse have increased ever since to this day and shall yet still more and more daily even as Antichrist and his Church with her abominations consucmeth daily For like as the beast and his Church with that mystery of iniquitie came not to perfection at once but by degrees according as they could and did by degrees put out the light of the Scriptures and extinguish the beauty and face of the true Church of Christ the life of the one depending as it were upon the death of the other So on the contrary part it is and shall be now the Lord Jesus Christ with the Spirit of his mouth is to consume the beast by degrees his two Witnesses are to stand upon their feet and his Church is to appeare out of the wildernesse in part and measure sometime before the end of the beast that they may by the truth of their testimony discover him and his abominations openly to the world that so those ten hornes or Kings and Kingdomes which formerly gave themselves and their power unto the beast might by degrees also some after other fall from him and come to hate the whore with her filthinesses to devour her flesh by the Sword and burn her with fire according to the word of the Lord Rev. 17.6 And that also for Gods elect sake those daies in respect of the evils and great tribulation of them might now even while the beast yet remaineth in his throne be shortned according as Christ foretold Matth. 24. Therefore let not now any of Gods chosen be dismayed at any thing they shall heare of or see though in their present apprehensions never so contrary but let them know there can nothing prevent God of his purpose nor hinder or put by the fulfilling of any part of his word what hee hath spoken shall stand let the beast and all the powers of wickednesse in the world with him do what they can the truth shall certainly prosper and the beast with all his power the Dragon bestowed upon him of what kind soever shall prevail no longer For who art thou O great mountain Babel the perfection and full accomplishment of all the former Babels and mountains of confusion that have been in the world And what art thou before him that fitteth on the white horse whose name is called The Word of God He with the sharp sword that proceedeth out of his mouth shall not only go on to consume thee even to the last hour of thy dayes determined but shall also take
the body untill the resurrection of the body and then so to rise with it and be named for both For one corrupt opinion or point of false doctrine brings alwayes more of the like nature with it But I leave this to their consideration and come again to the Text to see what it further saith Ver. 16. And the four and twenty Elders which sate on their seats in the sight of God fell on their faces and adoring God said Wee thank thee Lord God omnipotent which art which wast and which shalt come because thou hast received thy great power and brightnesse NOw the seventh Angel having sounded the great and last Trumpet the Lord being come in his glory and the Kingdomes of this world made his who is to reign for ever and ever world without end Hereupon the four and twenty Elders which are Moses and the Prophets as the four Beasts mentioned in Chap. 4.9 are the four Evangelists fall down on their faces before the throne of God adoring him for that his judgements against Antichrist and his worshippers which they by the seven-fold Spirit of Majesty given them of God spake of and denounced from time to time against them were now justified upon them And the everlasting Kingdome of the Lord their God whose dominion reacheth from Sea to Sea from the River to the ends of the earth is now set up for evermore according to all that he had foreshewed them and by the same Spirit spoken by them Hereupon they falling down and adoring the justification of God break forth into praises and thanksgiviving saying We thank thee Lord God omnipotent which art which wast and which shalt come because thou hast received thy great power and brightnesse c. Ver. 17. And the Gentiles were angry and thy wrath is come and the time of the dead to be judged and to render reward to thy servants the Prophets Saints to them that fear thy Name little and great and to destroy them that have corrupted the earth ANd notwithstanding the rage fury of those great Monarchs of the world that like wild Boares of the Forest that rose up against the Lord and against his people and Citie Ierusalem and of those Beasts of the field which said against the Lord and his anointed Let us break their bonds asunder and cast their cords from us And of all those Antichristian powers of so long continuance that have with the rest to fill up their measure rejected the Lord and trode his truth to the ground and made the holy Citie of his Saints as a street to trample upon And of all that innumerable multitude of Gog and Magog which that old Serpent the Devill and Satan shall at last gather together with their mighty men and chiefe Captaines against this great day of the Lord bringing them down and compassing the camp of his Saints about and the beloved Citie intending to destroy root out and take the prey and spoyle of all These all who are here described as they are also in Psa 2. by the name of Gentiles And the Gentiles were angry c. are now to endure the wrath judgment of him who with justice judgeth The great day of his wrath being come and the time of the dead to be judged Now the Lord for whose glory this day is made will render unto every man justly and truly according to their works and wayes wherein their hearts have walked and delighted First to his Servants his Prophets his Saints and Martyrs that through faith and patience have overcome their just reward which for his name and promise sake is right and due unto them And next unto all those heathen Gentiles and people of all nations kindreds of the earth under what name and of what profession of religion soever they passe Jewes Catholiques Protestants or other whose hearts are hard unrepentant and unbeleeving who by their evill deeds have corrupted the earth their just reward also and recompence which to their workes and wayes is rightly due unto them For so much doe the words conclude in saying And to render reward unto thy servants the Prophets Saints and to them that feare thy Name little and great and to destroy them that have corrupted the earth And hereby it is also manifest that at the same very time when the last trumpet shall sound and the Lord shall come in his glory the dead both good and bad shall be raised and judged without any distance of yeares or dayes between the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised as Paul saith And although the salvation of the just and sufferings of the ungodly shall continue for a thousand yea and ten thousand times ten thousand thousands of yeares even for everlasting as the Scriptures declare yet the judgment and sentence passing will require no longer time in the hands of the Lord then one day as the Scriptures alwayes expresse it And that we should know for certain that this day will come at the same time when Satan with his Armies of Gog and Magog shall be upon Christendome compassing the Camp of the Saints about and fire shall come downe from God out of heaven and devoure them The holy Ghost in Rev. 20.9 10 11 12 c. doth plainly declare it And to the end that we should take notice thereof hee saith chap. 21.6 It is done I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end c. And in chap. 16. upon the same comming down of the Kings of the earth and of the whole world unto the judgement of the great day it followeth vers 17. It is done And in Ezek. 39. upon the same destruction of Gog and Magog it followeth also verse 8. Behold it is come and it is done saith the Lord. This is the day whereof I have spoken Which day will be the last day of this world spoken of by Martha Luke 11.24 and whereof Christ saith But of that day and houre knoweth no man no not the Angelt of heaven but my Father only Matth. 24. For although the Lord hath revealed and men may know the yeare yet the day and hour can no man know And as in this last day this present world shall end so in it shal the world to come and the kingdome of Christ and his Saints begin as it is also declared Matth. 25.31 32 33 c. 2 Tim. 4.1 And then shall be the restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of his holy Prophets that have been since the world began as it is also written Acts 3.20.21 There shall bee new heavens and a new earth and Jerusalem shall be made a praise in the earth And great shall bee the difference between the estate of this world to come which shall be in subjection to Christ and wherein he shall reigne and righteousnesse shall dwell for ever world without end and the now present world wherein the heathen and Pagan Monarchs and Antichrists reigne and iniquity beareth rule and dwelleth And for any to teach or perswade the Christian State now present as some in their Sermons and Printed bookes have done and doe that the Kingdome of Christ and his Saints whereof the Prophets have spoken shall be in this present world for a thousand yeares before the last day is to teach and perswade to a Doctrine against Christ and not for him whose Kingdome is not of this world which is not nor will be being corrupt subject unto him Antichrist and his Clergie of false prophets that have taken upon them as much as ever did any the name of the onely true Church of Christ in the world have been as a great Monarch in this present world for a thousand yeares past already and let them take it for their portion of happinesse But let no true Christian Ministers state or people bee of such a mind to teach such doctrine or looke for such a thing here againe But rather flie the glory and shadow of this world and look for the eternall Kingdome in the world to come ready to bee revealed when Christ shall come at the last day which I verily beleeve upon the grounds before mentioned many thousands now living shall live to see And so I rest their Christian friend wishing them all true happinesse grace and truth and peace in Christ Amen Now having here a little space let mee put a question or two more to the Millenaries As first if when God shall have created new Heavens and a new Earth Jerusalem a rejoycing and her people a joy there shall be no more thence an infant of dayes nor an old man that hath not filled his dayes as the Prophet Esay saith Esa 65.20 Then I ask how there can thence an infant or child of dayes or an old man die as they will have it in their Millenary estate Again if the resurrection of the ungodly shall not bee till the thousand years kingdome of Christ which the Millenaries make to be the day of judgement shall be expired as they teach Then I ask what time they will have for that great multitude of ungodly not risen from the dead to be judged and who they mean Christ shall be all that time of a thousand yeares a judging Or how hee can judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and kingdome as Paul saith if the dead be not all raised at his appearing and kingdome and brought before him to be judged or why he should need a thousand yeares or dayes time of pawsing in judgement or more then one true naturall day though there shall be a thousand and ten thousand times ten thousand yeares of execution and suffering yea yeares and dayes and nights everlastingly as it is written Matth. 25. and sundry other places FINIS